Step by step, mile by mile

AM - 4 on hilton, 6:40 pace

PM - 6 on hilton after work, 6:17 pace

lots of flooding from the hurricane so both these runs were on my favorite running surface, also known as pavement. felt nice out on the night run. supposedly the last day of the year the temperatures get into the 90's, also known as my favorite day of the year. or is that the last day with a high in the 80's

AM - 3 mile w/u, 3 miles in 16:33(5:41, 5:31, 5:21). short c/d for 8

main reason i hit the track(very early) was because i knew all my courses were still flooded, and didn't want to do a treadmill run. with how mediocre training has been this week i just wanted to get a few miles at 6-flat pace in to refresh the legs, wasn't intending to put any real effort into it. ran the first lap in 85 and knew i didn't have the pride to slow down, so changed the plan to a short light tempo run. basically ran every lap faster than the last, it was nice. would have done a long cooldown but my ankles were bugging from all the turns

PM - 4 on hilton, 6:13 pace. grass wasn't flooded but still malleable so didn't get any real ankle support. ended it short because they were starting to bug again

AM - 2 on sokol, 6:28 pace, i think. ankles still felt iffy so cut it short and pretended it was being smart and not weak-willed

PM - 5 on mural, 6:11 pace. grass was a bit too soft so just like the last PM run, no ankle support. they weren't a fan, but it'd have been worse if i did a full AM run so maybe i can feel less guilty about it. work all weekend so no long run for the week, hopefully i can get 10-12 at a solid effort tomorrow morning before clocking in though.

AM - 11 on mural, 6:07 pace. very wet out there. shame i couldn't have gone longer, last two miles were 5:54 and 5:46 without really putting in any more effort than the nine miles prior. still, a solid run. hopefully by the end of the month with cooler temperatures giving me a little more room for improvement i can get back to dropping a few 5:5x pace morning runs a week.

AM - 11 miles on mural, 6:07 pace. basically a carbon copy of the morning run yesterday(the 10th mile was even a 5:54 split again), but i ran the first 4 miles a little slower and the last 7 a bit faster.

PM - off. a couple of weeks ago i mentioned how i wore old pegs to work and felt like they were straining my legs, well wore them to work today and ended up spraining my ankle. nothing major, but the tempo run tomorrow is probably off. i'll play it by ear but two strong aerobic 11-milers over the weekend isn't a bad way to get in shape either. i'm planning on running a 10k as a tuneup race(yes, really) in 10 weeks so this is about the point where i have to be hitting every mile and repeat i need to though. maybe i can move the tempo to tuesday if i'm lucky. or i could be absurdly lucky and wake up in the morning like it never happened. fingers crossed for the latter.

PM - 3 on mural, 6:20 pace. felt like 7:30 pace. came to the conclusion this morning that waiting until the AM tomorrow would be best for the ankle, but when your HR is staying under 50 all day food doesn't burn off easy and i was starting to gain a bit of body dysmorphia. also, even if this run doesn't tell me definitively if the ankle will hold up tomorrow, figured if i couldn't manage this then i definitely couldn't manage something at least 5 miles longer in the morning. run would have been a bit faster if ethan didn't show up for about 10 minutes in the middle for some small talk. i hate conversating during runs, but ethan's a wholesome dude and he wasn't exactly long-winded matching my pace so i eased up.

AM - 8 on sokol, 6:11 pace. weird run in that normally the pace ping-pongs as it drops during the flat gravel section and inflates during the grass hills, but it was the opposite today. strongest i've felt on sokol since probably april, not sure how much is being in better shape than a couple weeks ago and how much is my legs being extra lively. very muggy and wet out. ankle felt fine but i cut it a loop short(wanted 10) because i work today and didn't want to risk reaggravating it. think this means i'm in the clear though.

AM - off. was walking down the stairs of my apartment in the early morning to drive to sokol and my ankle flared up pretty hard once i'd gotten down the steps. went back inside and iced the ankle for about 15 minutes and it wasn't an issue for the rest of the day. weird.

PM - 3 on mural right after work, 5:45 pace. couldn't cool the jets off for the life of me so i stopped early despite still going strong(3rd mile was a 5:38, lol). training has been very mediocre since the hurricane struck but i've ran enough to stay loose so my legs were just absurdly overcharged. not worth much in gained fitness, but it's still fun to let loose.

AM - 10 on sokol, 5:58 pace. ran miles 6-9 in under 23:20. sokol is a tough course so getting my first aerobic run under 6-minute pace in months here makes it a little extra sweet. i think i'm still a few weeks out from 5-minute pace really being a regular occurrence like it was at the tail-end of last spring, but that day will come. i'll make sure of it.

PM - mile on hilton after work, i think it was a 6:12. the shift i'd come off was incredibly miserable and i just didn't have anything in the tank. still would have done the run if the grass on hilton weren't incredibly overgrown(couldn't run on mural since parking was closed off for the football game tomorrow)

AM - 11 on mural, 5:57 pace. got work today so no time for a long run, supplemented it by covering the last 7 miles in 5:55, 5:54, 5:50, 5:50, 5:50, 5:51, and 5:43. would have still preferred 20 miles at 6:05-6:10 pace but it's whatever

AM - 11 on mural, 6:18 pace. i've been very happy with the quick morning runs the last couple days, but both days they had my ankle feeling off by the time i got off work. considering i work again today and want to do a tempo tomorrow morning, kept the effort light, particularly in the first 30 minutes.

PM - 4 on mural at 6:13 pace plus a mile of dynamics, drills and strides. felt pretty stiff the first mile of the run but focused on keeping good form and felt better the longer i went.

AM - 4 w/u, 4-mile tempo in 21:19(5:21, 5:21, 5:18, 5:18), c/d on the turf farm for 12.

went to bed at 8pm last night, but took nearly 2 hours to fall asleep. don't know why but just felt like my body was overheating even with the AC on. i was fuming. last time i remember checking my watch it was 9:45, then woke up hot again at 11:45pm. was just pissed and didn't want to bother trying to fall asleep again so just did the workout absurdly early off 2 > hours of sleep. workout should have suffered as a consequence but it went well. wanted to go for 5 but after 3 knew i couldn't today. i'll be optimistic and say 1. if i had gotten more sleep i could have and 2. this workout being extra early means i'll have more time to recover between the weights in a few hours, and every run after.

AM2 - weights. was pumping iron for nearly 90 minutes... woof.

PM - 3 on hilton/RV, 7:10 pace. we got a couple hours of very heavy rain in the afternoon so i resigned to no PM run seeing how my beloved grass courses would be flooded, but about 30 minutes after having dinner i said screw it and ran anyway. hilton didn't end up being that wet so good call, even with it following a meal. it was only frozen cherries and eggs so it could have been worse. felt dead.

AM - 10 on sokol, 6:55 pace. pretty miserable run; i was sore, tired, and suffering from an extremely humid morning. the entire run i couldn't stop thinking about how i had an easier time keeping the pace under 6 minutes on this same run last friday than i did 7 minutes today. not that it matters in the grand scheme of things; i got the miles i needed

off. too much rain. one day i'll have the balls to use a treadmill for anything besides tempo runs. one day.

AM - 10 on sokol, 6:24 pace. felt a million times better than tuesday morning, was still a little sore from weights so went on auto-pilot. 6:24 isn't blazing fast in context of the last year or so but i can't remember the last time it felt that easy.

planned on working today around noon so had to try and do this workout early. did my first repeat in a 1200m in 3:48 that felt a little uncomfortable at first but pretty easy by the third lap. got about 10 seconds into the recovery, but since it was still dark out i accidentally stepped inside the track and my left foot landed in the drain. heard a crunch and my immediate thought was "oh my god, i just broke my ankle". hopped a few steps on the other foot before falling down and spending a couple minutes pounding the ground and switching between praying aloud and letting fly every obscenity i know. i think i just sprained it badly. i don't know, man. i'll play it by ear, although i think if it were broken it'd be giving me more grief right now(not that it isn't, just not as much as i'd expect from something being broken)

AM - stationary bike + some dynamics. for how violent my ankle sprain was friday, recovery has been a touch better than optimal. didn't move more than a couple 100 feet the rest of the day and was able to work on my feet all of yesterday with no trouble.

we've been getting absurd rain the past day or two. it started raining hard about 30 minutes before i got off work, and by the time i was driving home the roads were so flooded i had to park a few blocks away and trek through the street with water nearly up to my knees. it was crazy. anyway i imagine i'll be good to go tomorrow, although the rain is supposed to last another day or two so it might be a treadmill run. if i have to do a treadmill run i'd prefer a tempo, but i'll make that decision closer to the fact.

AM - 5 on the treadmill + gym after. worked down from 8 mph at the start to 10 mph by the end, felt good. wish i could have gotten a workout in today, but i'll make up for it with a tough session on thursday.

AM - 6 on sokol, 6:20 pace. had some gripes with it but also positives to said gripes. it was a very muggy(and muddy) mid-70's, but the silver lining is after today the low is in the 50's for the next week and probably several months to follow. i think i tweaked my back lifting yesterday, but my legs weren't all that sore and had much more life than last tuesday morning(although the cloud within that silver lining is i barely covered any mileage, let alone a workout). also got very nauseous after about 10 minutes and that had me stop early because i thought i'd throw up. no upside there, but my ankle felt completely normal so still a net positive

AM - hilly 18-miler on sandy. very windy. first 15 at 6:08 pace(miles 13-15 in 17:22) before jogging the last 3. solid run on a tough course, didn't plan on doing a long run until i was walking out to my car. ate a very small breakfast due to this and became acutely aware of it around mile 17

AM - 8 on sokol, 6:12 pace. temperatures dropped from mid-70 at dawn yesterday to 54 today. a welcome change. made a decently quick clip of pace on a moderately difficult course feel very lax. stopped a couple miles early because i rolled my ankle(the one i sprained last week) like 5 times. it never turned enough to actually aggravate anything but i was worried eventually it would. knees were quite sore driving home. good run regardless.

AM - 5 miles on the treadmill + gym. the 5 was a warmup for a tempo run, but i was still a little shook about my ankle so instead of taking a few hours to rest between working out and lifting just got the lift over with. weights went well, i squatted 100 lbs for the first time since probably 2017(18-year-old me would be ashamed of my inconsistency with strength training the last 5 years). bummed i chickened out of a workout, but i feel like i'm on the cusp of a breakthrough in training and i need that ankle to be 100%. i'll get in a couple aerobic runs this weekend to get my confidence up before trying mile repeats on monday

AM - 6 on mural, 6:18 pace. felt sore, but strong.

AM - got about 100m past 8.5 on mural and felt a strain in the arch of my left foot when i landed on it(plantar fasciitis?). stopped and walked around for a minute but it still felt a little sore so i called it there; no reason in risking making it worse. i'm not all that worried; i parked a couple blocks away so i could do some strides and drills beforehand on the turf field, and was able to jog a bit going back to my car feeling relatively fine. 6:01 pace for the ~8.5 which is pretty annoying considering the last 4.5 miles were hovering in the 5:53-5:58 pace range. why couldn't my foot have started hurting like 10 minutes later so i could at least have the victory of it being 5-minute pace? whatever

AM - drills and dynamics on the turf + 10 minutes running. foot felt fine being on my feet for work yesterday, but a bit sore again this morning. felt a bit better towards the end of the run so hopefully just needed to get warmed up. 

AM - 5 jogging on the turf. foot feels 95% of the way back to normal so hopefully by the PM i won't have any good excuses for missing runs.

AM - 4 easy on the turf + dynamics